FO: Quilting edition

Now that a bunch of my deadlines have passed, I have had a chance to start picking up some unfinished projects from earlier in the year. I started this quilt at the beginning of the summer. I didn't use a pattern because I really wanted to use large blocks that would show off the bright colors and patterns of this Echino fabric, whereas most of the patterns I see use smaller pieces of fabric. So I cut big blocks myself, roughly 10 x 10 inches.

I opted for some neutral beige for sashing but thought it needed something more.  So I decided to add some little bits of solid color. I just played around with some Kona cotton that matched some of the colors in the prints, adding triangles and rectangles of color to the ten-inch blocks.

Although I like all of the bright patterns in the fabric, I think my favorite is the Viewmaster-inspired print, since I vividly remember having Viewmasters as a kid.

One thing I learned from this quilt is to try to be much more careful and exact when cutting blocks and sashing (and when sewing them together). I had to even out some of the edges, and realized then how lopsided some of my blocks were.

This was my first attempt at machine quilting. I decided to just give it a go, and not worry about crooked lines or other imperfections. I was amazed at how quickly the quilting went, and even though there are lots of wobbly places, I was still pleased with how my first machine quilting attempt went.

For the backing, I used half of a duvet cover that I bought at Ikea. (I'd read about this on a quilting blog and figured it was worth a try.) I used a brightly-colored dot fabric for the binding, and noticed that my binding technique is starting to improve and look more consistent.

It's been really fun to get back to a more normal day-to-day, instead of being frenzied and struggling to meet deadline after deadline.  The next quilting project I'm going to focus on is a throw for my mom. I started it with the hope of having it done for her birthday in October, but that just wasn't going to happen.  So I'm aiming for Christmas.